Timber barrels or casks are commonly used in the production of wine. The wine is usually aged in the barrel or cask and the ageing wine extracts soluble material from the timber that enhances the wine quality. The barrels are usually made from oak timber. Barrel sizes vary. Barriques, hogsheads, puncheons and other size variations are used at the wine makers discretion, depending on the requirements of the wine. The cost of barrels is relatively high and for French oak barrels can be up to $1,000 per barrel. Larger sized barrels would mean less surface area per liter of wine which would result in longer time being required for the wine to be aged in the barrel. A consequence of the desirable relatively small volume of the timber barrels used in the wine industry is that many barrels are required to be filled with wine. Large wineries may have thousands of such barrels.
The traditional method of filling a barrel with wine is for a hose to be connected to a bulk storage tank containing wine. The hose, of approximate internal diameter 25 mm, is manually inserted into a bung hole located in the top of the barrel. An operator opens a tap or valve located near the barrel end of the hose to allow wine to flow through the hose into the barrel. It is difficult to ascertain the level of wine in the barrel as it is being filled. Normally the operator uses a torch to sight the rising level viewed through the gap between the hose and the bung hole.
The operator adjusts the flow rate of wine until the barrel is filled. Apart from the initial filling of a barrel, the barrel is required to be topped up during the wine aging process. This topping up process involves a repeat of the initial filling process.
The filling process is both time consuming and labour intensive. It can also lead to spillage of wine and the lack of complete filling of barrels which is costly considering the high cost of the barrels.
Various apparatus have been proposed for filling vessels with liquids from a hose having a nozzle at the downstream end. Such apparatus are commonly used for filling motor vehicle fuel tanks. An example of such equipment is GB 2108 471A. However the apparatus of this citation while suitable for filling a motor car fuel tank does not have features to maintain the nozzles at a fixed vertical position that would be desirable when filling a wine barrel. For filling fuel tanks this is not necessary as the nozzle is retained in position by the neck of the fuel tank in a car.
This citation also does not have a valve means to prevent the flow of fuel to the nozzle when the upstream valve is closed as this is not necessary for filling a car fuel tank.
It would be desirable to have an apparatus for filling wine barrels that was easier to operate and more cost effective.